1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to garden tools and, in particular, to a new and useful three way garden tool which can be used for digging up a bare spot on, for example a lawn, seeding the bare spot with, for example grass seed and tamping and setting the distributed seed into the bare spot.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A wide variety of garden tools are known for digging up and excavating areas in preparation for seeding, fertilizing and the like. Various devices are also known for distributing seed or fertilizer in even patterns over an excavated area to be treated. Further devices are known for tamping down the seeded or fertilized area to properly set these seeds or fertilizer into excavated earth.
Garden tools are also known which provide a multitude of functions within a single unit. Examples of multiple use garden tools include U.S. Pat. No. 133,709 to Jones issued 1872, U.S. Pat. No. 419,928 to Clayiborne issued 1880, U.S. Pat. No. 488,596 to Ayers issued 1892, U.S. Pat. No. 1,179,726 to James issued 1916, U.S. Pat. No. 2,611,514 to Peyton issued 1947, U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,718 to Steinberg issued 1961 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,612 to Atkinson issued 1977. Several of these patents include hollow handles for retaining or channeling seeds or fertilizers into selected areas on the ground, and ground engaging tool ends for excavating, digging, scoring or otherwise treating ground to be planted or fertilized.
A problem which often arises in the maintenance of a grass lawn is the treatment of small bare spots in the lawn which are caused by, for example mechanical injury, a lack of nutrition or other deficiency in the lawn in the area of these bare spots or the removal of weeds or other undesired plants from the lawn. In the maintenance of golf courses especially bare spots are often prevalent due to the striking of the lawn with golf clubs and the constant wear and tear which is caused the unavoidable traffic on golf courses. Bare spots are also a common problem faced by home owners in the maintenance of their lawns which, due to the nuisance of assembling seed, tools, fertilizer and the like often go untreated.
The treatment of such bare spots is usually accomplished by first excavating, digging or scoring the bare spot with for example a trowel or rake device then seeding the area and/or applying fertilizer thereto. The area must then be tamped or compressed to properly set the seed and/or fertilizer into the bare spot so that the seed may be properly anchored in the earth so that it may grow in a normal fashion.
To properly accomplish this task, a rake or trowel must first be used to excavate the area, seed and/or fertilizer must be applied to the area from such form of distribution tool or by hand and finally a tamping tool such as a flat plate with a weighted stem must be used to tamp down the earth in the seeded area to properly set the seed. The prior art as exemplified in the aforementioned patents does not provide a single satisfactory tool which can be utilized to properly seed a bare spot in a convenient and efficient manner.